Aidan Connolly is the President of AgriTech Capital, a food/farm futurologist, and author of "2-1-4-3, Plan your Explosive Business Growth," Described as the world's least digitized industry by McKinsey analysts (joint last position with hunting), the food producers of the world could only agree that agriculture has struggled to avail of the breakthroughs in technology that have transformed other industries. Uber has disrupted transportation, Netflix the movies, Airbnb the hotel business, online money movers who hold no cash now dominate banking and we purchase apps from companies who don't make them. Yet, farming seems to have changed little in the 10,000 years since the first animals were domesticated, and many believe that it will change little in the coming decades. However, I contend that this view is myopic and fails to recognize the degree of disruption already happening in farming. Sean Moffitt, managing director of Futureproofing, listed the 30 new technologies that both are currently seeing the greatest dollar investments and that industries will require to futureproof themselves for the next decade.

Farmers can analyze a variety of things with thousands of data points collected from their farms about the climate, temperature, and soil conditions. This can help them decide which types of seeds to use considering the soil conditions at the time. Farmers can precisely target the weeds with AI sensors and can apply the right amount of herbicides needed to treat the most diseased crops. This improves the overall quality of their crop. With substantial amounts of data now available, farmers are able to create seasonal models that highly predict agricultural accuracy and productivity.

Farms produce hundreds of thousands of data points on the ground daily. With the help of AI, farmers can now analyze a variety of things in real time such as weather conditions, temperature, water usage or soil conditions collected from their farm to better inform their decisions. For example, AI technologies help farmers optimize planning to generate more bountiful yields by determining crop choices, the best hybrid seed choices and resource utilization. AI systems are also helping to improve harvest quality and accuracy -- what is known as precision agriculture. Precision agriculture uses AI technology to aid in detecting diseases in plants, pests, and poor plant nutrition on farms.

Technology is transforming our food chain, with some of the most important innovation occurring in the rise of precision farming. Together, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are revamping the agriculture industry, helping farmers operate efficiently and in new ways. Today's farm is powered by data, along with a variety of devices and technologies, including sensors, GPS satellites, drones, and robots. This combination of automation and farming may mean to less friction and fewer obstacles for farmers, both for crop-based decisions and interacting with the USDA for permits. These exciting advancements, however, are not possible without dependable and scalable data centers.

Technology is transforming our food chain, with some of the most important innovation occurring in the rise of precision farming. Together, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are revamping the agriculture industry, helping farmers operate efficiently and in new ways. Today's farm is powered by data, along with a variety of devices and technologies, including sensors, GPS satellites, drones, and robots. This combination of automation and farming may mean to less friction and fewer obstacles for farmers, both for crop-based decisions and interacting with the USDA for permits. These exciting advancements, however, are not possible without dependable and scalable data centers.